Bike Walk Tompkins and LimeBike Celebrate First Full Month of Bikeshare in Ithaca

May 25, 2018
Transportation
Lime Bike logo

Bike Walk Tompkins | Press Release, May 25, 2018

ITHACA, NY (May 25, 2018) - On Tuesday, LimeBike celebrated its first full month of operations in Ithaca by recording over 10,000 rides, making Ithaca one of the most successful launches in the history of LimeBike’s national network.

Along with bringing over 250 bikes to Ithaca, LimeBike (now called Lime) has hired three full-time and four part-time staff locally, including Jeff Goodmark, Lime Ithaca Operations Manager. "The City of Ithaca and Bike Walk Tompkins have created a working group to not only support 10,000 Lime rides in a month’s time, but are following through with their vision of sustainability that decreases congestion and adds more convenient and affordable mobility options to their city,” said Goodmark. “We are proud of their success, and excited to be a part of a new wave of transportation in Ithaca."

Bike Walk Tompkins, the community partner that helped bring Lime to Ithaca, has been monitoring the launch and use of the bikes to ensure the success of bikeshare in Ithaca. Here are some fun facts from Lime’s first month of operations in Ithaca:

  • There are over 4,300 individual registered riders, making up almost 15% of Ithaca’s population

  • People on Lime have collectively ridden over 7,200 miles in Ithaca, enough to reach New Delhi in India and avoiding over 6900 pounds of CO2.

  • All streets in the “flats” of Ithaca have been ridden on by people on Lime, and one intrepid bike took a trip on a TCAT and visited Trumansburg (with the help of its rider)

  • The median ride is ½ mile and lasts 11 minutes, which is consistent with bicycle rides for transportation within Ithaca

“I like LimeBike and I use it to go to work. I like it because it’s very accessible and there always seems to be a LimeBike near me, particularly when I’m rushed” said Gibrian Hagood, Energy Educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County and Ithaca Bike Champion at Bike Walk Tompkins.

In addition to the success that Lime has made to improve transportation options in the City of Ithaca, Bike Walk Tompkins is actively working to address some of the issues highlighted by having more people bicycling in and around Ithaca:

  • To ensure secure and ample bicycle parking, 100+ new parking spots for dockless and personal bikes will be created with the installation of eight bike corrals over the summer by Bike Walk Tompkins in partnership with the City of Ithaca and Lime.

  • While not required for people ages 14 and up, Bike Walk Tompkins recommends that people of all ages wear helmets while biking, and anyone that needs one can get a FREE helmet at the Bike Walk Tompkins and Ithaca Carshare office inside the Dewitt Mall (limited quantities only).

  • Bike Walk Tompkins is committed to educate people about the rules of the road regardless of how they get around with our new Ithaca Bike Champions street team, a diverse team of seven awesome community outreach staff who will share information to all road users, support neighbors who are new to cycling, and create fun events that inspire everyone to try out bicycling.

“One of the concerns we hear about is people riding on the sidewalk.” says Victoria Armstrong, Director of Bike Walk Tompkins. “It’s not allowed for anyone over the age of 10, and it’s especially rude and dangerous for a cyclist to zip by people on the sidewalk. But understandably people on bikes don’t always feel safe riding on the roads with motor vehicles and go on the sidewalk instead. Most of our roadways are not designed for the safety of people on bikes. It will take both education and improved infrastructure to deal with this concern. In the meanwhile, our advice is, if you must ride on the sidewalk, yield to everyone else and only go at a walking pace.”

Bike Walk Tompkins will continue to work collaboratively with Lime, the City of Ithaca, and all interested partners to expand opportunities for people to try out and begin using Ithaca’s newest transportation system as we roll into the summer months. The feedback we receive from new and experienced bicycle riders will form the foundation of our Blueprint for Better Bicycling, an upcoming action plan to make Ithaca one of the most bicycle-friendly small cities in America.

About Bike Walk Tompkins

Bike Walk Tompkins aims to make Ithaca and Tompkins County a community where walking and biking are safe and convenient for people of all ages and abilities. As part of its Blueprint for Better Bicycling project to double bicycling (funded by a NYSERDA/NYSDOT grant), Bike Walk Tompkins partnered with Lime to bring bikeshare to Ithaca and continues to work to make bikeshare and biking an equitable and sustainable transportation solution. Bike Walk Tompkins is part of the Center for Community Transportation, a 501(c)3 organization that also includes Ithaca Carshare, Streets Alive! Ithaca, and Backup Ride Home. Bike Walk Tompkins is funded in part by the Park Foundation. To learn more, visit bikewalktompkins.org or call (607) 301-3181.

About Lime

Lime is revolutionizing mobility in cities and campuses by empowering residents with a greener, more efficient, and affordable transportation option that also improves urban sustainability. By partnering with local key stakeholders and systematically deploying a fleet of smart-bikes and scooters that are enabled with GPS, wireless technology, and self-activating locks, Lime will dramatically improve urban mobility by making the first and last mile faster, cheaper, and healthier for riders. Since launching in June 2017, the company has logged over 3 million trips, expanded internationally to Europe, and deployed electric scooters, electric-assist bikes, and multiple models of their standard pedal bike. Funded by Silicon Valley's leading VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, Lime is based in San Mateo, CA. Learn more at limebike.com.